San Francisco Frontiers - From Montecito to the Cotswolds: Harry and Meghan eye new UK home

The couple left for California in 2020 amid acrimony over their bitter criticisms of the royal family, and gave up for good their home in Windsor, west of London, gifted to them by the late Queen Elizabeth II.

But after six years in Montecito they have now returned along with their children Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, and have reportedly found a new home in the Cotswolds.

In the picturesque town of Burford, near the university city of Oxford, hospitality manager Joe Kind, 25, told AFP locals were used to "lots of really, really famous" faces.

People wouldn't "bat an eye" at the couple's presence and would leave them to enjoy their privacy, he said.

Famed for its honey-coloured stone villages spread across the counties of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, the Cotswolds is currently undergoing something of a transformation.

The area has traditionally been dominated by affluent local residents and wealthy second-home owners from London.

But in recent years it has been reinvented as one of the world's most fashionable rural enclaves.

- A-list haven -

Long associated with landed wealth, Harry's father King Charles III still has a grand home there -- Highgrove House -- where Harry spent much of his childhood.

And it is not far from Althorp, the family home of Harry's late mother Princess Diana, with the 29th anniversary of her untimely death falling on Monday.

But the Cotswolds has increasingly attracted a new generation of residents: technology entrepreneurs, international financiers, media executives and celebrities, drawn by the picture-postcard scenery within easy reach of London.

In recent years, celebrities linked to the area have included footballer David Beckham and his fashion designer wife Victoria, US talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and Oasis singer Liam Gallagher, while reports have linked singer Beyonce and rapper Jay-Z to a potential home purchase.

The A-list couple were reportedly sighted in a garden centre in Burford this month ahead of two performances by Jay-Z in London on September 4 and 5.

News of Harry and Meghan's relocation, however, has received a mixed reaction.

Polling indicates that a majority of people hold unfavourable views of Meghan, 45, and, to a lesser extent, Harry, 41, whose explosive tell-all memoir "Spare" aired a string of grievances.

Rachael Jones, 57, from near Burford, said she hoped the move -- following a rapprochement with the king -- would also help heal the rift with his older brother, heir to the throne Prince William.

"Any coming-together in a family is lovely. It's a good example to the country," Jones said.

She said she wished Meghan well settling in and perhaps returning to work as an actress, out of the shadow of William's wife, the future queen Catherine, who is also known as Kate.

"Kate's got all that glory, all the adoration, so good luck to her (Meghan)," she said.

- 'Unfair to William' -

The exact location of their new home remains shrouded in mystery, but they will reportedly retain their California mansion in Montecito as well as a home in Portugal.

Their children have reportedly been enrolled in local schools.

In the town of Tetbury, near the king's Highgrove House, Steve Fryatt, 73, expressed reservations.

The company director said most people he knew felt it was "unfair to William and Kate".

"I just feel uneasy about them coming back and their motives," he said.

Former Highgrove gardener Charles Davis, 65, said he believed Harry had wanted to return because he was "homesick".

Davis, who attended the 1981 wedding of Charles and Diana, said he had fond memories of the princes growing up and recalled a two-year-old William sitting on his lap as he operated a sit-down lawnmower.

"Harry will want to come back. It's his home," he said, adding he expected Harry missed one of his favourite pubs -– the Rattlebone Inn –- in nearby Sherston.

"When he was living at Highgrove he was in the pub at Rattlebone all the time, that was his regular. You ain't gonna get all that in America," he said.

S.Jackson--SFF